We change communities by empowering youth.
One of our participants delivering a speech to an adult audience at the University of Southern California.
Building Tomorrow Today
Youth Development is a process that prepares a young person to achieve their full potential while facing the challenges of adolescence and adulthood. Competency is developed through experiences cognitively, emotionally, physically, socially, and ethically. We help guide those experiences to foster development.
Youth leadership is an important component of youth development that is often overlooked. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “youth leadership is part of youth development process that prepares young people to meet the challenges of adolescences and adulthood.” Relationships with adults in formal and informal settings, peer mentoring, role modeling, self-advocacy, conflict resolution, exposure to community service, and building self-esteem are all benefits of youth leadership programming. By guiding experiences and exposure to events, we develop layers of competency to help shape young minds and build future leaders.
Each One Teach One
As professional educators in various realms, we do not lose focus of education as one of our pillars of community empowerment. Since young people do not have the ability to choose the circumstances to which they are born, many students do not have the opportunity to attend schools that will provide the best chance for academic success. With a quality education as a foundation, limits are removed and quality of life becomes a choice instead of a sentence. Through professional relationships, we help connect families with quality schools based on fit. These schools include public, private, and independent schools. We pick up where schools frequently stop. Financial literacy, etiquette, and aviation are just a few of the programs our participants have completed. It is our understanding that college preparation begins long before high school and requires more than just good grades. Read More →
Packing boxes of groceries as we do our part to give families a little bit more to be thankful for.
Community Impact
A culture of community service is empowering to all stakeholders. Coming from underserved communities, empowerment requires a lifestyle of service to be adopted by our youth. By allowing our youth to determine the issues that need to be addressed within their own communities, a culture of service is created. Some of these projects include providing meals, environmental beautification, clothing drives, fitness activities, and community dialogue. Our young people are sensitive to social issues and frequently request dialogue between law enforcement and community members. This display is a clear quality of true leadership. Some of the organizations we have partnered with to serve others include; the National Basketball Association, the Midnight Mission, Jackson Limousine, the Mission Continues, Operation Heal the Bay, Drew Child Development Corporation, the City of Inglewood, and numerous others.
Warm Hearts Warm Heads
With nearly 60,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County in 2018, according to the Los Angeles Times, this is not an issue that can be overlooked. Being that many of our youth witness this social problem on a daily basis, our program participants have decided to get involved. We have created our “Warm Hearts Warm Heads” program. Through this program we collect; knit caps, gloves, and scarves. All collected items are then delivered to shelters in various parts of Los Angeles.
Since we’ve all seen what homelessness looks like, we challenge all groups to collect as many of the listed items as possible. This is a community service opportunity and necessary verification documentation will be provided upon request.
Picture it…
In this program, youth have the opportunity to learn photography from professionals. Whether the interest is that of an enthusiast, a hobby, or interest in becoming a professional, this program is will plant and cultivate seeds. Students will be exposed to the competitive nuisances within the world of professional photography.
“Everything worth having in life is worth earning the Hard Way”, a motto we wear with pride.
Hard Way Basketball
Participation in team sports allows young people the opportunity to develop numerous life skills. Working in a team environment to accomplish a common goal allows us to create controlled lessons. Communication, work ethic, accountability, and commitment are just a few of the leadership qualities we are able to instill within team sports. One of the mottos we live by is, “everything worth having is life is worth earning the Hard Way”. This motto named our team, “Hard Way”. The 4 stars in our team logo represent our beliefs; learn, give, play, live. The “branches” represent the arms that wrap around our players as they are shown love in a family environment.
As a certified member of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and Junior National Basketball Association (Jr. NBA), we compete at a high level. Our schedule includes competition in Las Vegas, Houston, San Diego, Oakland, Portland, and China.